id: 145209 accession number: 1970.43 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1970.43 updated: 2023-03-20 20:43:54.017000 Worshippers Giving Offerings to the Bodhi Tree, AD 100s. Southern India, Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati, Satavahana Period (c. 100 BC - c. AD 200). Limestone; overall: 80 x 57.1 cm (31 1/2 x 22 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1970.43 title: Worshippers Giving Offerings to the Bodhi Tree title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: AD 100s creation date earliest: 100 creation date latest: 199 current location: 242A Ancient India creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Southern India, Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati, Satavahana Period (c. 100 BC - c. AD 200) technique: limestone department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Andhra, Amaravati type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 80 x 57.1 cm (31 1/2 x 22 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1970 opening date: 1971-02-10T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971). title: Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture opening date: 1975-09-24T04:00:00 Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975). title: Sacred India opening date: 1985-11-05T05:00:00 Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986). title: Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2009-06-27T04:00:00 Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1970 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1970- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: The square railing surrounding the base of the trunk is the marker of a sacred tree. This tree has the distinctive heart-shaped leaves of the Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa), which is the type of tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment. Each of the the worshippers holds a narrow-necked pot with lotus flowers emerging from the mouth. The lotus flowers are a symbol for water, so these figures are pouring offerings of pure water to the sacred tree. wall description: Early Buddhism depicted Buddha using symbols such as the bodhi tree, the royal umbrella, his throne, or an imprint of his feet. Here, the scene shows three figures worshiping the bodhi tree under which Buddha achieved enlightenment.

The relief comes from the stupa of Amaravati, a monument decorated with images of Buddha and scenes from his previous lives. The stupa no longer exists, and sculptures of this style are rare because they were recovered from the site after the monument had crumbled.

During Sherman Lee's tenure as the museum's director (1958–83), only a handful of Amaravati sculptures came onto the market, and he keenly acquired this distinguished example. The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the few institutions to acquire such a sculpture; individual carvings found on the site are now almost all in the collections of the British Museum and the Madras Museum in India. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1970." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58, no. 2 (1971): 22-71. page number: Reproduced: no. 131, p. 46; Mentioned: no. 131, p. 157 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152361 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 290 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n310 Heeramaneck, Alice N. Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Verona, Italy: A.N. Heeramaneck, 1979. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 7 url: Pal, Pratapaditya. A Pot-Pourri of Indian Art. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1988. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 18, fig. 18 url: Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Reproduced: pp. 124-125 url: Brummett, Palmira Johnson. Civilization Past & Present. New York: Longman, 1999. page number: Reproduced: p. 140 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.43/1970.43_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.43/1970.43_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1970.43/1970.43_full.tif